PMD: Guardians of Space and Time
by PsycoDragonKiller
Summary: Kyle Reaver is not your average teenager. He knows several martial arts styles and is a near perfect shot with a gun. But will this be able to help him, when he is thrust into a new world as a Pokemon with no memory of what he used to be? Watch as the last hope for life as we know it is put through an adventure like no other in an attempt to maintain order and peace in the world.
1. Prologue

**Notice!**

**I do NOT own anything about Pokémon. I only own my OCs.**

It all started one month ago. It was a peaceful day in Cleveland Ohio. But everything went to shit, and its because of one worthless fuck whose mind was broken long ago. Time is at a standstill, and all the world has fallen into anarchy. I have had it with this, so I went out searching for a way to fix what has happened, even if it meant I would die.

My name is Kyle Reaver. I'm a fifteen year old Caucasian male with black shoulder length hair and dark green eyes. A long, jagged scar runs across my face from my left brow to my right cheek. My ears are slightly pointed at the tips, giving me a slightly elfish appearance. My canines are larger than normal, giving my grin a more feral look to it. My outfit consists of a black hoodie with a black leather jacket over it and bandages wrapped around my abdomen. My face is covered by a black bandanna with a sharp toothed grin on it, and over my eyes are a pair of night vision goggles. The reason for the goggles is the fact that because time stopped, the sun doesn't rise and the moon and stars do not light the sky. It's a miracle that we can grow plants despite the lack of sun. I guess the government really was smart after all. My legs are covered in a nice, warm pair of black cargo pants with a belt that holds various pouches full of medical equipment like pain killers and disinfectants. My feet are protected by a tough pair of dark steel toed boots. Black leather gloves finish off my dark appearance, enabling me to hide virtually anywhere on this dark planet.

As I walked through the streets I looked to my left and smiled at the one next to me. He is a tall green figure with leaves on his arms, head and tail. His name is Grovyle, or at least I think it is. He is a Pokémon, therefore lacks the ability of human speech. He smiled back then turned to look at the path before us. We were heading to a Pokémon named Celebi who is supposedly a specialist on time, and she is supposed to be our only way to stop time from collapsing. She has access to long distance time travel, meaning she can get us to the time required to fix this shit. Once we reached the building where we were supposed to meet Celebi I was knocked back by a large black figure with one red eye.

"Mother Fucker!" I yelped as I flew out the door and slammed into the ground winded. A large series of deep lacerations covered my chest, blood dripping onto the concrete beneath me. How I survived that I will never know. I looked up and saw a figure that made my blood run cold. "Oh dear God, not this guy again." Floating in the doorway was Dusknoir, one of the many Pokémon trying to prevent me from completing my mission. He is the leader of the Sableye Hit Squad. They are a group that is dedicated to eliminating those that pose a threat to their master. Grovyle was fighting Dusknoir and was obviously losing, so I needed to make this quick.

Once Grovyle got pinned by Dusknoir I grabbed a knife that was in one of my pockets and held it by the blade, taking aim at the hulking figure before letting the knife fly. It spun through the air straight and true, embedding itself to the handle in Dusknoir's right shoulder. With that little opening I got to my feet and ran over to Dusknoir, planting a swift round house kick to Dusknoir's head before helping Grovyle to his feet.

"We need to move, now." I said as I grabbed my knife. To this very day, I still regret not cutting that bastard's throat. Grovyle looked at the wounds on my chest but did as I said. We ran into the building and ran to the elevator. "This will take us to the top. C'mon, we need to hurry before anymore hostiles show up." We got in the elevator and pressed the button for the very top. Once the elevator got moving I leaned against the wall and gave a tired sigh while sliding to the floor. Running for so long with deep cuts will tire you out quickly. Grovyle walked over and kneeled in front of me, a roll of gauze in one paw and a syringe full of a blue liquid in the other. "Thanks pal, I appreciate this." When we reached the top I walked out of the elevator with my chest bandaged and my energy restored.

"Hello! Is anyone there?" I yelled. I got no response, and knew something must be wrong. I pulled out my knife and scanned the room. "Celebi? Its Kyle and Grovyle. You get the portal up and running?" Out of nowhere a pink blur slammed into Grovyle with a happy squeal.

"You came! Thank Arceus!" She exclaimed through telepathy. I smiled and gently pulled her off Grovyle. She gave a cute little pout before flying over to the stairs. I helped Grovyle up and walked after the little pink headache with wings. On the roof of the building stood a strange rocky formation kind of like a cave, a bright blue aura covering it and an endless black hole in the front covering the entrance.

"This is the Passage of Time. I have it set up for a time period that is right before the temporal collapse. You have a lot time before it begins, but don't slack off because of that." Celebi said as she pointed at the rocks. Grovyle nodded and I just stood there with a blank look on my face.

"When have we ever slacked off, ya little pink bug?" I asked, a wide grin slowly slitting my face when I saw her pouting look. I gave her a quick hug and walked over to the portal. Grovyle did the same, though the hug was slightly longer and was followed by a quick kiss.

We stood before the portal, the winds picking up slightly and streams of blue energy flying from both our bodies into the endless black hole. I slowly lifted my hand and ran it through the blue energy streams, Grovyle doing the same before we jumped into the portal, knowing we would never see this world ever again.


	2. A New World

"Hey Grovyle, how long do you think we've been falling?" I asked as we shot through the endless tunnel. All I got in response was a shrug. Suddenly, a blast of black energy smashed into my chest, opening my wounds once again, which I could tell wasn't very good. "SHI~T!"

"Hang on!" Grovyle yelled. How I understood him, I'll never know. I tried to grab his hand but I was slipping.

"I-I-I can't hold on!" I growled as my hand finally slipped from Grovyle's grip. Once I let go I shot off in another direction, the yells of my friend drowned out by the rushing winds. I looked forward and saw a bright light. As I passed through the light I felt extreme pain shoot through my body. I felt myself impact on something hard and my vision went black.

Several yards from where Kyle impacted the ground a small red and orange fox with brown eyes is pacing back and forth. On her side was a small bag with various useful items. In front of her is a wooden grate and a tall tent with the head of a pink Pokémon on top behind it. The fox stopped suddenly and turned back to the grate, a look of determination in her eyes as she stepped onto it.

"That's it, I'm going to do this." She whispered as she stood on the grate. All of her bravery left her face when she heard a loud voice yell about detecting a Pokémon.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon Detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!"

"EEK!" The Vulpix screamed as she jumped back. She sighed and lowered her head in shame. "Oh man, I'm such a coward." She pulled out a small stone a looked at it intently before sighing again and putting it away. "One of these days Calida, one of these days you'll have enough courage to go through with this." She turned and walked away. Behind her two Pokémon hid in some bushes, malicious grins on their faces as they followed her.

Calida walked down a large flight of stairs and through a small village. Her head still down in disappointment as she dragged herself down a dirt path to a beach. There she sat, watching the sea and the bubbles flying through the air produced by a group of crab like Pokémon named Krabby. Calida allowed he sight to lock onto a bubble and follow it as it flew to the left. When she was turned enough she noticed a blue and black form on the other side of the beach. Calida got up and walked over to the shape, but stopped half way in shock when she saw what was lying on the ground. It was a Pokémon called a Riolu if she remembered correctly. They were fairly rare considering the fact that they tended to live further east. But that isn't what caught her eye, it was the large pool of red that surrounded his form.

"O-oh Arceus," She whispered. "So much blood..." Calida ran up to the Riolu and pulled out a few blue berries and began crushing them to prepare a paste that her mother taught her how to make. It was meant to be a disinfectant, and she knew that the Riolu was most likely there for a while. As she applied the paste she shuddered with revulsion at the feel of sticky, half dried blood on her paws. She stop quickly when a pained groan alerted her to the Riolu waking up. It slowly sat up and put a paw to his forehead but froze when he saw his hand.

"W-what the hell happened?" He whispered as he turned his paw this way and that, checking it out like her thought it was some mysterious object. "This is new..." The Riolu turned to look at Calida then focused back on his arm. "So, I take it you found me?" He looked down at his chest and saw the blue paste covering his wound. "What is this stuff?"

"That's a salve made from Oran Berries." Calida said. "My mother taught me how to make it. It is supposed to help heal large wounds, and I thought it would be a good idea since I didn't know how long you were here. My name is Calida by the way."

The Riolu just nodded and looked at his arm again. "Kyle," He said. "Kyle Reaver, its nice to meet you Calida." He stuck out his paw and they shook paws.

"You know, I think I might have something to wrap that wound up if you want." Calida said. Upon receiving a confirmation she reached into a little bag she had and pulled out some white cloth. Kyle helped her wrap it around his torso and tied it tightly.

"By the way, why do you have two names? Calida asked.

"I'm not sure why. I just know that I do." Kyle replied. They sat there in awkward silence for a long time until Calida decided to ask a question that had been bugging her earlier.

"So," Calida said. "Where are you from, and how did you get those wounds?"

Kyle looked at his feet for a few seconds then answered. "I'm not sure. I have almost no memory of what happened before I woke up. All I can remember is that I used to be human." His response was met with laughter from the orange fox next to him. Calida's laughing was soon halted by the serious expression on Kyle's face.

"Y-you're serious aren't you? How would that be possible?" She asked with an amazed yet confused look on her face. She acted as if changing species has never been done before. Kyle assumed this was the case and shrugged. He didn't care. He stretched his stiff muscles and gave a satisfied groan when his joints gave loud cracks.

"I have no clue. Like I said fifteen seconds ago, all I know is that I was human and my name is Kyle Reaver." He said as he went back to looking at his arms. A stray thought crossed his mind and he shot up straight. "I remember a black tunnel with blue lights at one end and a bright white light at the other, if that means anything to you."

Before Calida could reply she was knocked into Kyle, sending them into the ground with Calida on top of Kyle. She turned around and glared at whoever hit her. Behind her was a large purple bat and an even bigger purple ball with smoke coming out of holes on its body and a skull and crossbones on his chest.

"Hey! What was that for?" She growled. The two purple Pokémon laughed before answering.

"We just wanted to mess with you. You gonna do something about it wimp?" The bat asked in a slightly threatening way. The purple ball saw Calida's bag and grabbed it quickly.

"Whoa ho ho, what is this? It seems to be a bag with a very interesting rock in it!" The purple ball laughed and looked at the bat. "Let's go Zubat, these wimps aren't doing anything and we got what we came for."

"You're right Koffing; these chickens aren't worth our time. Let's go." Zubat said as they flew to a cave at the very end of the beach. Calida just gave a depressed sigh while looking at Kyle.

"That bag had my personal treasure in it. I have to get it back." She said, a few silent tears falling from her eyes. Kyle reached up and wiped them away.

"Then let's go. Now please get off so I can get up. I want to kick those fucker's asses so badly right now." Kyle said. Calida got up with a blush on her face, scolding him for his swearing. They walked into the cave and began looking around.

"Kyle, this is a mystery dungeon. We need to find the stairs to get out of here." Calida said as she followed Kyle. He nodded and began searching for the stairs. He found them after searching for a few minutes and they proceeded to the next floor. Kyle began searching for the stairs again, but came across a pink slug and a strange brown crustacean. He was about to walk past them when one of them struck out and smashed into Kyle, knocking him on his back. Kyle jumped to his feet and got in a fighting stance.

"So, you wanna fight? Let's see how well I do." He said as he threw a punch at the pink slug that hit him. His paw connected with its head in a perfect right hook, throwing the slug off balance and allowing him to finish it off with a left hook. Kyle looked at the other enemy, only to see it out cold with Calida sitting on top of it.

"That was a brutish way of handling it, but efficient nonetheless." She said with a smug look on her face. Kyle just flicked her off and continued looking for the stairs. On the next floor six Pokémon stood in their way, three slugs and three crustaceans.

"What is with all the slugs and crustaceans?" Kyle asked as he adopted a combat stance.

"The slugs are called Shellos and the crustaceans are called Anorith." Calida said. "And this is a mystery dungeon remember? We will be attacked on almost every floor." Her response drew out a few choice words from Kyle as he charged one of the slugs. When he was close enough Kyle brought his right foot up in a roundhouse kick that KOed the Shellos almost instantly. Not one to waste and opportunity, Kyle used his momentum to spin around and deliver a downwards punch to another Shellos.

"This is amazing, I feel so strong" Kyle thought to himself as he slammed a fist into the last Shellos's face, knocking it out in one hit. "I might not remember much about myself, but I can tell that I wasn't able to this as a human." He turned back around and KOed the Anorith sneaking up behind Calida.

She was on fire, literally. Small flames shot from her mouth, deep frying the Anorith in front of her. She jumped in surprise when she heard the one behind her get pounded into the ground. "Thanks for the save Kyle," Calida said, a paw rubbing her right foreleg in embarrassment. Kyle just nodded and led them out of the room and to the last set of stairs. In the room stood the two Pokémon they had been looking for, Zubat and Koffing. Once The duo entered the room Zubat saw them and whispered to Koffing, who turned around and smiled a cruel smile.

"So the chickens finally grew backbones, eh Koffing?" Zubat asked.

"Whoa ho ho, I think you're right Zubat." Koffing replied with a loud booming laugh. Kyle growled and took a step forward and Calida took a fearful step back.

"G-give me back my bag! It has my personal treasure in it! Please, I need that back!" She said. Kyle could see the fear in her eyes and took another threatening step forward.

"So it **is** valuable. Maybe we should sell it Koffing. It might fetch a pretty poke in in the market." Zubat said to Koffing who began to drool at the idea of making money.

"N-no, please just give it back! It's very important to me!" Calida begged, tears starting to form in her eyes as she took yet another fearful step back. "That rock was given to me by my parents. Don't take that away from me."

"It's no use Calida." Kyle said as he brought a fist back in a ready position. "They won't listen to reason. They must be dealt with using force. Now get ready!" Calida's expression hardened as she adopted a combat stance as well, her legs spread apart slightly in such a way that she would be able to pounce quicker. The two groups charged, Calida tackling Koffing into the ground and Kyle kicking Zubat in the face.

"You can't beat me you pathetic winged rodent!" Kyle yelled as he punched Zubat in the stomach, chest and face in rapid succession before finishing the combo off with an uppercut. Zubat recovered quickly and bit Kyle on the shoulder, poison leaving his fangs and entering the wound.

"Good luck dealing with my poison Riolu! You'll be on the ground in seconds!" Zubat yelled as he charged in for another strike. Before he could land the finishing blow Kyle grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the ground.

"If you think I'll let that stop me then you're wrong." Kyle whispered as he put pressure on Zubat's left wing, snapping it out of the socket. Zubat screamed in pain as his wing was dislocated and knocked Kyle off his back. It was all in vain when Kyle planted a roundhouse kick to Zubat's skull, knocking him out.

"Damn, need an antidote right now. But Calida has the bag and she's busy right now. Looks like I'll have to muscle through this." Kyle mumbled as he fell to his knees. "Hope I survive this. But more importantly, I hope Calida gets her treasure back." With that said, Kyle's energy left him and he fell face first into the sandy floor.

"Come on wimp! Show me you mean business!" Koffing yelled as her tackled Calida into the wall. She got up and retaliated with and ember attack and a tackle when an opening presented itself. Koffing hit the ground hard and was pelted yet again with small balls of fire.

"Who's the wimp now, Koffing?" Calida asked the poison type Pokémon. Koffing slowly got up and used smog to blind her. Calida covered her nose with one paw and closed her eyes with another. While she was vulnerable Koffing slammed her against the wall. When he was about to finish Calida off, a small red light could be seen coming from her mouth before she unleashed a high power ember into the smog, igniting it quickly and blowing up her half of the room. Koffing was launched to the other part of the room and slammed into the wall hard, a small crater marked the place of impact.

"What a wimp," Calida said as she turned to look at Kyle, only to find him on the ground with blood dripping from the puncture wounds in his shoulder. Calida gasped and pulled out an Oran Berry and a Pecha Berry. She knew the shape of a bite wound and knew Zubat must have used some type of poison. Calida ground up the Oran Berry and mixed it with a Pecha Berry to produce a healing salve with poison neutralizing properties. She applied it to the wound and watched in relief as the color began returning to Kyle's face and the wound lost its purple hue. Kyle slowly opened his eyes and grinned.

"Thanks for the save Calida, I don't feel like dying any time soon!" Kyle said as he slowly sat up. He got to his feet and looked around the room. "Now that you have you got your bag back, we can get out of here." Kyle was about to walk away when he stopped suddenly. "Where is the exit again?"

Calida sighed and just walked back the way they came, Kyle face palmed and followed her. Apparently going back the way you came puts you right back at the entrance of the dungeon. Something Kyle was sure defied so many scientific laws that any scientist would have and aneurysm trying to figure it out.

"So Kyle," Calida said as she put down her bag. "This is what they took that I was trying to protect." She reached in and pulled out a small rock with a perfectly flat side that contained a swirly design. Kyle reached over to the rock and lifted it to eye level to examine it.

"This is very strange. I've never seen a symbol like this before." Kyle mumbled as he turned it around in his paws. The stone gave off a strange energy that he just couldn't quite understand, and it felt familiar somehow. He handed it back to Calida and nodded. "It does seem very valuable."

Calida put the rock away and shrugged. "I know. I can't seem to be able to understand what is does either. I can tell it's valuable though." She looked at the path leading up to the village and nodded to herself. "I have a proposition for you Kyle." Kyle crossed his arms and developed a business like tone and attitude.

"And what would that be, Miss Calida?" He asked with a slight grin on his face.

"Make an exploration team with me," Calida said. "They act as a form of law enforcement here. I don't know about what humans have, but the teams do jobs like escort and retrieval. Outlaw hunts are on the list as well. So, what do you say? Wanna make a team with me?"

"Sounds good to me," Kyle said with a thoughtful look on his face. "I know next to nothing about this place, and any Intel would be worth more than gold to me at this point. I could also use the money. You've got yourself a deal Calida." The Vulpix jumped with joy and hugged Kyle, thanking him over and over again before turning around and running up the dirt path behind her. Kyle followed at a more sedated pace, taking in the town and its inhabitants. The duo run up a large set of stone stairs and stood before a large tent with a wooden grate in front of it.

"You stand on that grate to gain access." Calida explained as she stepped up to it. "There is a Pokémon down there that sees your footprint and alerts the others inside that there is a newcomer before taking a few seconds to decide if opening the gate is a good idea or not." Once her paw touched the grate a loud voice yelled out from beneath her.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's"

Calida jumped in shock and stood there shaking for a minute. She was brought back to reality when one of the voices yelled for her to move and let Kyle get on the grate. Calida stood to the side and nodded at the grate. Kyle stepped forward and stood on the grate.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is... um... maybe Riolu's, maybe Riolu's!"

"WHAT? MAYBE?"

"I-I don't know what I don't know!"

"That's pathetic Diglett! You're supposed to be the best at this!"

"Hey!" Kyle yelled. "Give the guy a break! From his response we Riolus are a rare sight around here!"

"Hm, you're right there stranger!" The louder voice yelled. "Alright then, you can enter. The Guild Master's assistant Chatot will be up to meet you in a second!"

The large gate blocking the tent's entrance lifted, and Kyle gave Calida a little nudge to get her moving. They entered the tent and saw an open hatch with a ladder leading to what appeared to be the mission room. Many teams were in the room, talking or looking up jobs on two wooden boards. A second ladder sat next to the first one and led further down. From this ladder came a multicolored bird with a music note shaped head.

"Ah. you must be the two Pokémon Loudred was talking about!" He said, his head moving back and forth like a metronome. Kyle's eyes locked on it and he could't look away, it was almost hypnotic. "It's nice to meet you two. Now please, leave the premises. We are terribly busy, and can't be dealing with sales Pokémon or surveys right now."

"Um sir, we aren't here for that. We want to become Guildies as I call them." Kyle said. Chatot and Calida gave him a weird look before shrugging it off as some slang term.

"Um, OK then. Sorry for that, but we don't usually get kids as young as you two wanting to join up." Chatot replied. "The guild's training program is very difficult. But I hope you make it, this guild could use a few new recruits."

"That's ok," Calida said. "I'll admit, I'm a little scared. I just hope I don't chicken out on this."

The group didn't even realize that they were walking, and found themselves in front of a big door with a fancy red design on it. Chatot opened the door an they walked inside. In the back of the room lay a pink and fluffy Pokémon.

"Guild Master, I bring two Pokémon wishing to be members of our guild. The Riolu is named Kyle, and the Vulpix is called Calida." Chatot said. When he didn't get a response he walked over to the Pokémon and poked it while repeating the question. He soon regretted it when the pink Pokémon got up quickly and smacked him across the face with its flailing arms. Chatot flew through the air comically and slammed into the wall with a loud bang. Kyle and Calida sweat dropped and looked at the pink Pokémon before them.

"Hiya," He said with a wide eyed, unblinking stare. "I'm Guild Master Wigglytuff. You two must be those Pokémon Loudred was yelling about! If you want to make an Exploration Team then you'll need a team name!" Kyle and Calida shared a look and sighed, they were at a loss for a name. Suddenly Kyle got an idea and decided to go with it.

"Wigglytuff, how many groups are there here at the guild?" Kyle asked. Wigglytuff brought a hand up to his chin in thought before responding.

"There are two other teams, why do you ask?" Wigglytuff asked.

"In that case, our team name will be Charlie." Kyle said. The other three Pokémon gave him curious looks so he decided an explanation would be a good idea. "Back where I'm from, each team is given a certain name based on the number of the team. In this case we're the third team, making us Charlie. There are 26 possible team names using this method. The alphabet used is called the NATO alphabet I think." Kyle sighed when he saw the confused looks still on their faces. "Just forget it."

"Ok then," Wigglytuff said. "From now on, you will be known as team Charlie. Yoomtah!" A bright flash lit up the room for a fraction of a second after that word. "Now you need you're team equipment. This box has everything you will need as an Exploration Team. Quick, open it!"

Kyle took the box that Wigglytuff pulled out of thin air and placed it on the ground. With a swift kick the top popped off and revealed the contents of the box. A large brown bag with a Pokéball sprouting wings on it sat in the box. Kyle pulled it out and opened the bag, pouring its contents out onto the floor.

"That is a Wonder Map." Chatot said, a large mark visible on his head from the hit earlier. "It will update its appearance with every new land discovered." He then pointed at two badges with the same design as on the bag. "Those are your badges. They will allow you to send a Pokémon to the guild from any dungeon in the world."

'Instant teleportation systems in the form of a badge, that is very impressive technology.' Kyle thought.

"These are scarves. They carry special effects that will be applied up being worn." Chatot said as he held up two scarves, one a dark red the other blue. Kyle took the dark red one and felt a large boost to his strength and speed. Calida's blue scarf caused her to be covered in flames for a split second.

"Kyle's scarf will allow him to strike harder and faster, while Calida's increases her special attack power." Chatot said. "This is all the starting gear for and Exploration Team anything else must be bought with your own money." Kyle and Calida nodded in response.

"Now I suggest you go eat!" Wigglytuff said. "Dinner should be ready now!"

"Hell yeah, Food! C'mon Calida, let's go!" Kyle yelled as he ran out of the room, leaving an astonished Calida in his dust.

"This is the first time I've ever seen him this happy about anything..." Calida mumbled to herself as she walked out of the room.

"That was wonderful. A full tummy is a happy tummy." Kyle said with a sigh as he walked to their room. Chatot had dragged Kyle away from the Mess Hall to show them their rooms before dinner started. Calida gave him a wide eyed stare the whole time since dinner started.

"You're actually full?" She asked in exasperation. Kyle had eaten so much food that even Loudred was incapable of keeping up with him. The thought flying through everyone's mind was 'where does he put it all?' Kyle just ignored her and kept walking. They arrived at their room and Kyle threw the door open and dived onto his bed. Calida got into her bed and turned to look at Kyle.

"Well, we did it." She said. "We're guild members. Now I'm one step closer to finding out what my relic fragment really is, and you're closer to finding your past." Kyle nodded in response and sighed.

'One step closer, just as she said. Now I just need to take that next step. But what is that step, that is the question here.' Kyle gave yet another sigh. He had been doing that a lot recently. 'I hate this. Too many questions, and not enough answers. My only lead, is this guild and some specks of human knowledge.' As soon as Kyle knew Calida was asleep he got up and walked to the window.

"I will do what it takes to learn who I used to be. I will have answers, no matter what."


	3. Acclimation

"**UP AND AT'EM, ITS MORNING!"**

"Mother fucking bitch dick," Kyle yelled as he grabbed his ears. Calida turned to him and hit him in the head for swearing so much in just one sentence. Loudred walked into the room and glared at the two slightly smaller Pokémon, especially Kyle. Kyle had the decency to look embarrassed at his little comment, and Calida giggled lightly at him.

"It's time to wake up maggots! You're going to be late, and the guild master won't be happy about that." He said. He shivered and turned back to the door. "Now hurry up, I don't want an angry guild master yelling at me for not getting everyone up." He left the room with copious amounts of annoyed comments, and Kyle slowly got up. He walked over to the treasure bag and put the strap over his shoulder, giving it a few tugs to make sure it was secure.

"Let's go Calida, time to get started with our new job. I hope they give us something interesting to do." Kyle said. Calida nodded and they left their room to stand next to Diglett and Sunflora, both of which greeted them with wide smiles. Once everyone was in place Wigglytuff left his office and walked over to Chatot, a slight limp in his gait and drooping near the eyes let Kyle know that the pink fluff ball was still asleep.

"Now everyone, let's begin!" Chatot announced with widespread wings.

"ONE: DON'T SHIRK WORK!"

"TWO: RUN AWAY AND PAY!"

"THREE: SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

"OK Pokémon, time to get to work." Chatot said as he turned to wake up Wigglytuff. Before he even got a word out, a pink hand shot through the air and impacted Chatot's face with extreme force. Chatot spun through the air, streams of tears spraying from his eyes as he soared over the heads of the Pokémon present. His glorious flight ended with an impact on a wall next to the mess hall, a small crater marking where his flight came to an end. Chatot pulled himself out of the wall and walked over to Kyle and Calida unsteadily, almost like he had one too many at the bar and got punched after flirting with a beautiful girl.

"Follow me; I'll get you a good job fitting your skill level..." He groaned as he climbed the ladder to the next floor. Kyle and Calida followed with sweat drops falling down the back of their heads. Chatot took a right and grabbed a paper off of the board on that wall. He handed it to Kyle and he read it over quickly before putting it in his bag.

"You're a dick Chatot. I hate grunt work." Kyle grumbled. Chatot threw him a glare and Calida put a paw to her mouth in horror and slight amusement. How could he just cuss out the guild master's assistant and sit there pouting like a little kid? Kyle ignored the looks and showed Calida the job. She read it and glared at Chatot as well before placing the request away.

"We really have to look for a small pearl?" She asked as she walked to the ladder. Kyle followed after her as she entered the village. They walked into town and Calida gave him a brief overview of what the village has to offer. She explained the Chansey Daycare, and how any eggs they received would be cared for there. Kyle blushed thinking about having to take care of a child and how his partner was a girl. You could easily draw the connection. Calida went into depth on the Kecleon brothers and how they sold almost anything. The Duskull Bank was obviously one of the most important parts of her explanation. She mentioned briefly the Xatu Appraisal service. The Kangaskhan storage was something Kyle thought was probably the most useful there. The Marowak Dojo was going to have some regular customers later on. Once he heard about the Electivire Link shop and how he would be able to learn what his moves were, Kyle immediately directed them to the shop.

"Can you tell me what my abilities are? I was never able to learn what they are." Kyle said. Electivire nodded and connected a wire to Kyle's head, which disturbed him a little bit. The big yellow Pokémon mumbled to himself before freezing, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. He looked at Kyle in pure amazement before answering the question from earlier.

"Y-your level is six, and your abilities are Bone Rush, Double Team, and Extreme Speed." Electivire said in amazement. Calida felt her jaw drop and Kyle just nodded with a small smile. He turned to Calida and had her pull out some money to give to Electivire. They left the village after buying some healing and stamina items.

"Let's go Calida. I guess this could be used as a chance to practice my abilities." Kyle said, annoyance still present in his voice. Calida followed him from the crossroads to the dungeon, still thinking about Kyle's abilities. There was no way that someone that was her age could be able to use the abilities that supposedly he has. She wanted to know more about it, but knew she wouldn't get anything from him unless he wanted to tell her. They walked up to the dungeon's entrance and shared a quick look at each other followed by a nod before entering. Once inside Kyle decided to try out one of his abilities. He held out his arms six inches apart, the right one facing up while the left one faced down. His face scrunched up in concentration as a blue aura formed between his paws. The aura condensed and formed a long bone staff with small nubs on the ends. It was so long that it was at least one and three quarters feet too long on each side. He lifted it above his head and spun it around in a complicated series of arcs that left Calida dizzy.

"This is amazing..." Kyle said as he continued spinning the weapon and jabbing at fake enemies. It stopped suddenly and he held it behind his back with his right paw holding one half facing the ground, and the other half was up in the air. He looked at Calida and grinned. "Guess I have to find something to fight now. We are in a dungeon, so that shouldn't be hard."

They walked through the first couple floors with no problem. The problems started to come up four floors in when the group was surrounded by five Chingling and four Shellos. Kyle didn't give the enemy any time to attack. He jumped backwards and spun in the air, his bone staff spinning with him as it impacted a Chingling, knocking it flying across the room. He then twirled his staff around at high speeds, causing it to rain a multitude of blows on another Chingling. Calida joined the fray with an ember attack, scorching the third Chingling and knocking it out after being pelted by high speeds fireballs.

One of the Chinglings used Wrap on Kyle, immobilizing him long enough for the fifth Chingling and a couple Shellos to get some decent hits in on him. Calida came to his rescue with an Ember attack, taking out the Chingling holding him down. Kyle grunted his thanks before smacking the last Chingling away. All that was left were the four Shellos. Kyle grinned sadistically as he used Extreme Speed. He shot forward so fast that he almost disappeared, planting a foot in the far left Shellos' face. The hit knocked the Shellos out without trouble, and set Kyle up for a follow up strike on the Shellos to his right using his staff, leaving it out cold as well. Calida used Ember on the far right Shellos, and then on the one right next to it. Once all of the enemies were taken care of Kyle walked over to Calida and patted her on the shoulder.

"You did way better this time." Kyle said. "And looks like we know who is who on this team, I'm the warrior and you're the mage." Calida gave him a questioning look and Kyle just told her to ignore it, it was a human thing. They took the stairs on the other side of the room and proceeded to the next floor. The last two floors were very easy for the duo, and on the seventh floor they found the pearl that their client was looking for. Kyle grabbed it and they left.

- (Line break) -

"Oh thank you, thank you!" A grey pig with a spring for legs yelled as it bounced around in joy. Kyle's mouth twitched into a small smile but quickly returned to the same old blank look, and Calida covered her mouth with a paw as she giggled lightly. The pig bounced back over to the two guild members and pushed a bag of money at them eagerly. "Thank you for finding my pearl! I couldn't stay still without it on my head. I want you to have this: one large bag of two thousand Poké, ready to be spent on whatever you want." Kyle grabbed the bag and opened it up, his eyes widening at the sight of the money. Calida did the same and was about to tell the Pokémon to take some of the money back, but was stopped when he held up a stubby grey hand.

"This is nothing compared to the value of my pearl." He said. "I make a lot of money already at my job working with the Kecleon brothers at the market. Now take that money and buy yourselves some useful equipment." Calida and Kyle both nodded with large smiles on their faces as the Pokémon left. Chatot walked up to them and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good job team. Spoink was very happy to get his pearl back." He said. "Now hand over that money if you'd please." He took the money from Kyle and took a hand full out before shutting the bag. "This is what you get for completing a job." Chatot tossed the small hand full of money to Kyle, who caught it easily and scowled.

"This is bull crap..." Kyle moaned. "Just take all of our money, why don't you? Damn con artist." Calida voiced her displeasure as well, and Chatot squawked loudly to shut them up.

"You're still new recruits here! And besides, doing jobs for the guild means you have to pay ninety percent of your earnings to the guild. It goes towards the upkeep of the building as well as the food." Chatot scolded. "Once you graduate you can keep half of your earnings, but for now you give most of it to us." All he received in response was a bunch of grumbling as the two Pokémon in front of him walked to the ladder and went to the mess hall for dinner.

- (Line break) -

"Hey Kyle, you awake?" Calida asked.

"Yeah, what's on your mind?" He said.

"I've just been thinking, about all of this." She replied. "Its amazing being here, and I'm so glad to be here with you Kyle." Kyle grinned upon hearing that. "You made me draw out the courage I needed to join, to live my dream. I can't thank you enough." She turned to Kyle and frowned.

"Of course, having most of our money taken sucks..." She mumbled with a cute little pout. Kyle laughed lightly and nodded.

"We're newbies Calida, we're going to be picked on a little bit. You also need to understand that it takes a lot of money to run a place like this." Kyle said, hoping to raise her spirits a little bit. She nodded and turned back towards the window.

"It's getting late Kyle, maybe we should go to sleep." Calida said. "Good night Kyle."

"Good night Calida." Kyle whispered back. And with that, the duo's very first day at the guild has come to an end, the calming noises of the night lulling the two fast friends to sleep.

(I tried to get it where the staff was the same size difference as Edgar and his glaive from Rusty Hearts. Look it up, and that is the comparison you should use for Kyle and his Bone Rush ability.)


	4. Wanted: Drowzee, the Dream Stalker

"OK Pokémon, time to get to work!"

"Hooray!"

The morning cheer progressed the same as yesterday, allowing Kyle and Calida to remember what to say and do easily. Chatot picked them out of the group yet again an led them to the job boards. Instead of going to the board from yesterday, the group stood in front of another board. This fact was picked up on immediately by Kyle and Calida. Kyle asked about it, and Chatot responded by motioning towards the board. He stepped forward and looked at the jobs.

"Chatot, I could kiss you right now," Kyle said. Chatot stepped back and Calida faltered when she heard that. "This is what I've been looking forward to." He looked at Calida with a wide grin on his face. "We're going head hunting Calida!" Calida gasped in shock at that, and Chatot grew a little uncomfortable at hearing that. Kyle laughed and jabbed the air with his right paw. "I've always wanted to do something like this. I have a knack for hunting after all."

"Actually," Chatot said, his discomfort plain. "These outlaws aren't meant for you to kill, but to capture. These Pokémon need to be taken into custody, so do not kill them. Of course, you'll get missions where some Pokémon are charged with murder or attempted murder. These Pokémon are marked with stars instead of letters. I won't be sending you on any of these for a long time." Calida gave a sigh of relief and Kyle just nodded. "Now I need to go do something important, so I'm having Bidoof prep you and choose a good job that will be challenging, but not too hard or dangerous."

"BIDOOF!"

"Coming, yup yup." A very redneck sounding voice called as a fat brown beaver climbed up the ladder and stood next to Chatot. He huffed a couple times and looked at Kyle and Calida.

"Bidoof, I'm going to be very busy for a little while. Could you get these two ready for an outlaw mission?" Chatot asked as he began climbing down the ladder. Bidoof gave a nod of confirmation and ranted on about how he was glad there were other new recruits. He led the two new guild members to the village. He taught them about some of the more detailed aspects of the village before returning to the guild.

"Let's go visit the Kecleon Brothers. They might have some useful gear today." Calida said. They walked through the village and over to the Kecleon General Goods Shop. It was shaped like a large green Kecleon without legs.

"Ah, hello there Calida, what may I interest you in today?" The green Kecleon asked.

"Hello Green. I'm here for some outlaw hunting equipment." Calida replied. Green nodded and began putting together a kit for them. Kyle just sat there and talked with the purple Kecleon, whose name was actually Purple. He had to resist face palming at their names. Once Calida got the gear and paid, they began walking back to the guild. They stopped when a Marill and Azurill ran up to the Kecleon Brother's shop and bought some apples. The young brothers mentioned something about a missing item and that they were going to search for it later. The Azurill was very anxious to begin their search. As they were leaving Green told the team about how the young brothers' mom was very sick, and that they were tasked with running the house while their mom recovered.

"Mister Kecleon!" A young boy yelled. The group turned to see Azurill running back with and apple in his hands. "I didn't pay for this! Here you go!" He held up the apple and Green just laughed.

"Ah, little Azurill, that extra apple is for you! Enjoy it and please, tell your mother I said hello." Green replied. Azurill thanked him and was about to leave when he tripped on a small hole in the ground and fell, the apple rolling over to Kyle's feet. He picked it up and shined it before handing it back to Azurill. When he did a mind splitting headache shot through his skull, causing him to stumble back and grab his head as his vision went black. A white line shot through the middle of the darkness and a high pitched voice echoed from seemingly everywhere.

"_H-h-help me!"_

"What the heck?" Kyle whispered as he looked around, his sight slowly returning to normal. Several Pokémon were giving him concerned looks, and Calida was standing at his side with a worried expression on her face. Kyle looked at Azurill and then at the Pokémon around him.

"Sorry about that." Kyle said, bringing a paw up to his forehead when he felt a throbbing pain in his head again. "Just a migraine or something, I might not have gotten enough sleep. Just go back to doing what you were doing everyone." He turned and walked out of the market after Azurill and Marill left, the other Pokémon in the area staring at him before returning to what they were doing.

"Yay, thank you so much Drowzee," Azurill yelled as he bounced around on his tail. Marill cheered loudly as well, drawing more attention towards the young brothers. A tall yellow and brown Pokémon with an elephant's trunk for a nose stood before them with a smile on his face. Kyle walked over to them and said hello to the new Pokémon.

"What's going on over here? You guys are making quite a lot of noise." Kyle said while tapping a foot in annoyance. Marill scratched his right ear sheepishly.

"Well, you see we kind of lost and item of ours, and this nice Pokémon named Drowzee said that he would help us find it." He said. Drowzee nodded with a smile on his face an led the brothers out of the village after chatting with Kyle and Calida for a bit about random things that came to mind. As he left he bumped into Kyle. After he made contact with the yellow and brown Pokémon, Kyle's vision flashed white again before turning black.

_This time, an image is shown. Drowzee is using psychic to pull a screaming and kicking Azurill towards a hole in the side of a mountain._

_"H-h-help me!"_

Kyle's vision returned to normal just in time to see Drowzee and the brothers leaving the village. As they were leaving, Kyle saw a malicious glare on Drowzee's face for a split second.

"See you later guys!" Calida called out as she ran back to the guild. Kyle grabbed her before she started climbing the stairs and pulled her aside.

"Calida, there's something I need to tell you, it's very important. Earlier at the Kecleon Shop and after Drowzee left, I had a vision. I saw and heard Drowzee pulling a screaming Azurill towards a hole in the side of a mountain." Kyle said, his face locked in a serious expression. Calida gasped, but tilted her head in confusion.

"Wasn't Drowzee going to help them find that item? And if what you said is true, then where is Marill?" Calida asked. "I'm not sure if you're right on this or not, but I do know that we're still just recruits at the guild. We can't be going off on wild adventures and stalking possible criminals quite yet. We need more experience before we can do any of that yet, you know that. Let's just go back and have Bidoof give us a mission that we could use to train our skills."

Kyle grudgingly agreed and they started walking back to the guild. Once they reached the mission room Bidoof waved them over to the board.

"Alright Bidoof, give us a challenging one." Kyle said as he held up a paw, aura glowing on it for a second. "I want to see what I can do." Calida immediately overrode his choice by hitting him on the back head and suggesting an easy one so they could get a feel for what they needed to do. Bidoof sweat dropped and nodded while looking at the outlaw board.

"WARNING, JOB BOARDS ARE UPDATING! PLEASE STAND BACK!"

Without warning the job board flipped around quickly, almost smacking Bidoof in the face. Kyle laughed and Calida looked at the board in amazement.

"These boards are rotating. With enough force on the other side, they spin and allow Dugtrio to add new jobs and remove expired ones." Bidoof explained with a glare at Kyle. Once he finished his explanation another warning sounded and the board flipped back to normal. "Now let's get you that job shall we?"

Calida was about to say something when she froze, then started shaking. Bidoof saw that and looked at Calida with a questioning gaze.

"Is something wrong? It's not cold here you know, so what is it?" He asked.

"Kyle, look at the upper left corner of the board." Calida said with barely restrained anger evident in her voice. Kyle did so and frowned when he did.

"Oh no..." Kyle whispered as he grabbed the paper. On it was Drowzee and the price being half a million Poké. They bolted from the mission room, completely ignoring Bidoof's frantic yelling as they shot down the path to the crossroads. Once they arrived they saw Marill standing there, a distressed look on his face.

"Marill, where did Azurill and Drowzee go?" Kyle asked with anger evident in his voice. Marill shook slightly when he heard it.

"They went that way, towards Mt. Bristle. I couldn't keep up with them, and I don't know where they're going from there. Please, hurry," Marill whimpered. Kyle nodded and charged down the path, Calida following right behind them.

- (Line break) -

"We're here," Kyle said, in front of him stood a tall mountain with many thorny trees. "Lets move, Azurill won't save himself." And with that, the duo entered the dungeon.

The first few floors were full of Geodudes, which pissed Calida off to no end due to type disadvantage. The Machops and Doduos were fairly easy to deal with. The deeper floors were full of Spinarak. They kept on using String Shot to slow Kyle down and poison sting to weaken him. Calida was knocked around by the Sucker Punches. They made it to the top floor in a horrible mood because of all of the annoying Pokémon.

- (Line break) -

"Um, mister Drowzee," Azurill asked. "I can't see my item anywhere, are you sure it's here?"

"Sorry kid, but you're item isn't here, that's for damn sure." Drowzee stated with a cruel sneer. Azurill immediately began looking around frantically.

"M-my brother is here, right? He's coming to join us?" He asked.

"Listen kid, I'll let you in on a little secret." Drowzee said in a low whisper. "I lied; your brother isn't coming anytime soon." He took a menacing step towards the small blue Pokémon and pointed at the hole in the wall behind him. "I want you to go in there. There is said to be a legendary treasure in there. Go in, grab it, and come out and I promise you'll return to your brother."

"B-but I don't want to! I want my brother!" Azurill yelled as he ran for the exit. Drowzee used Psychic to grab him and pull him back to the hole. "H-help me please!"

"Stop right there!"

Drowzee dropped Azurill and turned around to look at the new comers. Standing in the entrance were Kyle and Calida. They walked further into the room and glared at Drowzee.

"Drowzee, you're under arrest for kidnapping and assault. Come quietly, or we will be required to use force." Kyle growled as he held out his team badge. Drowzee took a step back, but started laughing when he looked at Calida.

"Yeah right pipsqueak, you think you're so tough? Look at your partner, shaking like a leaf in a gale. You're new to this aren't you?" He asked with a sadistic grin. Calida flinched and Kyle sighed in annoyance. "Come at me if you dare, kids. If you think you have what it takes, then go ahead and prove it!"

Kyle pulled out his bone staff, and Calida began charging Ember. Drowzee used Psychic to grab several sharp looking rocks and fired them at the group. Calida countered with her Ember attack, shooting down the stone projectiles and creating a dust cloud. Kyle used with distraction to get up close using Extreme Speed so he could hit Drowzee with his staff. The yellow and brown Pokémon rolled backwards, and jumped to his feet after the hit.

"Impossible," yelled Drowzee. "How could a Riolu know these kinds of attacks?" His response was a foot to the face courtesy of a Riolu moving at extreme speeds. Drowzee blocked the next attack with a Psychic, tossing Kyle into the air and following up with a pound, launching Kyle across the room. He landed with a loud crash, a medium sized crater surrounding his beaten form.

"Kyle!" Calida screamed, worried that he may have broken his back or something. She glared at Drowzee and pelted him with Ember. She didn't stop, even when he used Psychic to hurl sharp rocks at her, leaving shallow cuts and bruises along her body. Eventually she had to stop attacking due to a lack of energy, allowing the dust to clear. Drowzee stood in a charred circle, covered in ash and panting heavily. He used Hypnosis, taking Calida out of the fight long enough for him to catch his breath. He turned his attention towards Kyle, only to be met with the end of a bone staff to the face.

"Your fight is with me damn it!" Kyle roared as he used Extreme Speed to get closer and rain a long series of blows on Drowzee. He swore that at some point he broke a couple of Drowzee's ribs when he coughed up some blood. With a quick upwards strike, Kyle launched Drowzee high into the air.

"Now to finish this," Kyle yelled as he used Extreme Speed to catch up with Drowzee. He continued to rain blow after blow on Drowzee, his staff moving so fast that it was nothing but a blur. To finish up his insanely large combo, Kyle positioned himself above Drowzee and used Extreme Speed to smash his staff into Drowzee's stomach with great force. The yellow Pokémon shot towards the ground at amazing speed, impacting the ground with a loud boom and a blast of dust and stone. Kyle touched down beside him with a light tap.

"Mission accomplished," Kyle said. He turned away from Drowzee and focused on Calida, who was still asleep. She was so peaceful that he didn't want to wake her, do he picked her up bridal style and carried her down the mountain with Drowzee being dragged by Azurill, who was remarkably strong for his size and age. They left the dungeon and were met by Officer Magnezone and his three Magnemite deputies. They thanked Kyle and Calida for their service and took Drowzee away.

"Azurill!"

The group turned around and saw Marill running up to them with tears running down his face. He ran up to his brother and pulled him into a hug.

"I thought I'd never see you again bro!" Marill cried. "Thank Arceus that these two found you!" He looked at Kyle and scratched his head in embarrassment. "I forgot to ask for your names."

Kyle was already walking away and Calida followed him. As he was leaving her yelled over his shoulder, "My name is Kyle, she's Calida. We're Charlie Squad. Remember that you two!" Kyle and Calida nodded at them and went back to the guild. Chatot congratulated them on a job well done and they grabbed dinner. As they lay in their room, Kyle gets up and walks over to the window again.

"I have another lead now." Kyle whispered. "The problem is now I have more questions. Why did I see what I saw, and hear what I heard." He looked at Calida and felt a smile tug at his lips. "I can safely say that I have a good partner. I just hope that when I find out who I am, I can still be by her side." He walked over to Calida and sat next to her, watching her chest rise and fall in peaceful slumber. "You're my best friend Calida. I may have only known you for a few days, but I still think of you as a friend that I can put my trust in." He got up and got back into his bed.

"That is more than I can say for a lot of people. I hope I can stay with you forever, Calida."


	5. I'll never let go, no matter what

**NOTICE!**

**I DON'T own Fist of the North Star or anything associated with it, nor do I own the song "A Little Piece of Heaven" by Avenged Sevenfold.**

**Please note that even though I am using Ken's moves from Rage 1, this is not a cross over.**

After the morning cheer Chatot came up to us to congratulate us on a job well done. He told us to keep up the good work and had us check out the job boards for the day. Calida and I decided to do outlaw jobs, so I took five for Mt. Bristle. We left the guild and entered Mt. Bristle ready for anything.

The first job was to take down an Abra by the name of Menti. He was easy to deal with, though Kyle kept griping about his left arm being dislocated at the shoulder from being launched by a Psychic attack. Calida winced when he slung it back into place and had to cover her ears when Kyle roared in pain. That memory still managed to make her flinch. Their next outlaw was a Machop, which Kyle took on in a one on one unarmed combat.

"Take this fucker! Hokuto, Hyakuretsu Ken!" Kyle yelled as he rained a flurry of blows onto his enemy before finishing it off with a high powered downwards strike. The Machop flew back and skid across the ground before falling unconscious. "And everyone tells me that playing games like Fist of the North Star teach you nothing, when in reality they can teach you a whole lot." Calida just stood off to the side, staring at Kyle in shock.

The next outlaw was a Doduo, which Calida disposed of with ease thanks to a her continual spamming of her move Ember. Kyle teamed up with Calida to finish off the last two outlaws. They were two Geodudes. Kyle and Calida struck together, racking up insane combos and finishing them off with a combination of the move Extreme Speed and Ember, forming a high speed stream of solid fire bullets surrounding a fist. Needless to say, the Geodudes were going to feel that for a long time.

They returned to the guild and collected their rewards before eating and going to sleep.

- (Line break) -

The next day Chatot walked over to Kyle and Calida, telling them they needed to do sentry duty. They didn't complain, because they knew doing this would get them some money. The duo jumped down the hole and stood in position beneath the grate. Calida would do most of the work because she knew the footprints better than Kyle. They were nearing their end of their shift when Kyle decided to start singing. No Pokémon showed up, so Loudred let him off the hook in favor of listening to him singing. The song was called "A Little Piece of Heaven" by the band Avenged Sevenfold. When their shift ended they got their pay from Chatot, and Loudred congratulated Kyle on doing a great job at singing.

"What was the name of that song?" Loudred asked.

"It's called 'A Little Piece of Heaven.' It's by a band named Avenged Sevenfold." Kyle replied. "I used to listen to them a long time ago. I'm not sure you'll be able to hear them though, since they're really far away. They visited an area far to the east of Treasure Town."

Loudred's ears drooped a little in disappointment as he left to go eat dinner. Kyle and Calida followed after him at a distance.

"It's a human thing, isn't it?" Calida asked. Kyle nodded in reply. They ate their food in peace, well as much peace as they could, and went to sleep.

- (Line break) -

Several days later, Calida and Kyle had completed more than twenty five jobs, so Chatot decided they were ready for a different type of job. He took them aside after the morning announcements and had them pull out their Wonder Map.

"I think you two deserve a job befitting an exploration team, don't you?" He asked with a smile. Kyle nodded enthusiastically and Calida was a little more vocal with her elation. Chatot laughed at this and pointed to a spot on their map.

"This is the location of a waterfall, as you could obviously tell by the picture. What is interesting about said waterfall is that there are rumors that there is a hidden entrance to a treasure trove there. You two are to go there, and look for this path. If you find the path, I want you two to follow it until you either find this treasure trove or the very end of the area. Mark the number of floors along with what you find at the end on a piece of paper, and bring back a sample of the treasure for the guild to look into, and some for yourselves since it will be your find. Now get going!"

Calida nodded and Kyle snapped a crisp salute and barked a "yes sir!" They left the bottom floor and went into the village to get their supplies. They stopped by the Kecleon shop to grab healing equipment and some food. After getting stocked up they left the village and left for the dungeon.

- (Line break) -

"Wo~w, look at that Kyle!" Calida said as she looked at the waterfall. "The water is coming down so hard; it looks like it could crush us." She walked up to the water and slowly placed a little of her paw into the water. She immediately pulled back with a yelp of pain.

"Are you alright?" Kyle asked as he looked at her paw. Calida just nodded and looked at the waterfall again.

"The water really is coming down hard. It could crush us if we tried to go through." She murmured. Her hurt paw was held slightly off the ground. Kyle reached out to test the water as well and had to pull out his paw as well when the pain got to be too much. when he pulled out he brought the injured paw up to his head when a strong shot of pain coursed through it. Calida was saying something to him, but he couldn't hear her. His vision went black before a white light split it in half and a scene showing the waterfall appeared. It showed a familiar outline of a Pokémon running through the waterfall, only to end up in a cave. Once the cave showed up his vision went back to normal.

"Are you ok Kyle?" Calida asked.

"Yeah, just another headache again, I saw something though." Kyle replied, causing a grin to split Calida's face.

"And what did you see," Calida asked.

"There's a cave." Kyle said. "It's just behind this waterfall." He reached out a paw and put it under the water again for a second. "We just need to jump through."

"What?!" Calida yelped as she took a step back. "But if we do that, the waterfall will crush us!"

"You can go back to the guild if you want. Give it about a day and if I don't come back, then I'm either dead, injured or going through a dungeon that may or may not have a treasure hidden in it." Kyle replied with an indifferent shrug. Calida stared at him with her mouth wide open before smacking him upside the head.

"Don't joke about something like that! I'm going with you, so if you do get crushed then so will I." Calida replied as she took a few steps back. "I do trust you Kyle, with my life."

"On the count of three," Kyle said as he stood beside her.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

They charged at the waterfall and jumped. As they shot through the high speed water Calida screamed in pain and fear and Kyle let loose a loud yell. They exited the water only to find that they were almost twenty feet in the air in a large cave. Calida hit the ground hard, moaning in pain while Kyle landed in a roll that softened the impact. He walked over to Calida and helped her up with a comforting smile on his face. Calida pulled him into a teary hug while talking in a shaky voice about how she thought they were going to die. Kyle rubbed her back soothingly before walking over to the dungeon entrance in front of him.

"Let's go Calida. We need to find the exit, and hopefully the treasure." Kyle stated. Calida nodded shakily and followed him quickly. They entered the dungeon and saw a Surskit and a Psyduck. Kyle went after the Surskit using his extreme speed to keep up while Calida tried holding her own against the other water type. Kyle easily overpowered the Surskit and dashed at the Psyduck and kicked it in the head, slamming its head against a rock and knocking it out. Calida thanked Kyle and they moved on to the next floor. They made it through the dungeon with relative ease. But once they reached the second to last floor, they were attacked by five Grimers.

"Let's go, Calida!" Kyle yelled as he charged one of the Grimers. "Hokuto, Hyakuretsu Ken!" Kyle pummeled the Grimer and the one next to it with hundreds of high speed punches before finishing it off with a powerful downwards strike. Calida jumped over Kyle and rained an Ember storm upon the other enemies. Once they were weak enough Kyle finished them off with a whirlwind of strikes from his Bone Rush. He failed to notice that all three Grimers were using either Toxic or Smog, poisoning Kyle to such an extent that he fell face first into the ground and started breathing erratically. Calida immediately pulled out some Pecha Berries and Oran Berries to prepare an antidote. After it was prepared she gave it to Kyle and he slowly got to his feet, wobbling slightly.

"Thanks, now let's go. The next floor should have the treasure." Kyle said as he limped to the stairs. Calida started running after him, dreaming fondly about large hordes of money and expensive diamonds. Of course, her team mate was also one of the things flying around in her head at this moment. Even though he was injured, Kyle could still move pretty quickly. It was amazing to witness how quickly he could recover his energy. They entered a large circular room full of different types of jewels. Kyle pocketed tons of the smaller ones and a few medium ones, while Calida was more focused on trying to pull out the large pink gem in the back. Kyle rolled his eyes as he decided to voice his opinion of his partner.

"You are one greedy vixen aren't you? What is it with girls and big, fancy diamonds anyway?" Kyle asked. All he got in response was a Geo Pebble hitting him in the back of the head, causing him to land face first on the ground.

"Keep your thoughts to yourself and help me get this over sized jewel out of the wall!" Calida yelled with a tick mark on her forehead. Kyle quickly got up and grabbed the jewel. He really did not want to get hit in the head with another rock. After trying in vain to pull it out, he just stepped back and yelled a stream of curses at the damn jewel. This earned him another rock to the head and a scolding from his partner. She stepped over his twitching form and tried again to pull out the jewel.

'Where did she get those rocks?' Kyle thought as he rubbed the back of his head. All of a sudden he clutched his head in pain as another headache racked his brain. His vision went black before being split by the white light again. This vision showed the same figure from before pushing the jewel and being washed away by a large stream of water.

"Hm... maybe if I were to push it," Calida mumbled to herself. Kyle's eyes shot wide open upon hearing this and flinched when he heard the click of the trap being set off. He stood up quickly and ran over to Calida, pulling her into his arms and attempting to run away. His partner voiced her annoyance and curiosity on why he was carrying her away from the treasure before noticing the wave of water rushing towards them. As it neared them, Calida screamed and Kyle grumbled another curse at Arceus and God for having such a painful sense of humor. The water slammed into them and Kyle pulled Calida closer, whispering one short sentence before losing consciousness.

"I'll never let go of you Calida, no matter what."

- (Line break) -

Kyle was basking in his blissful darkness when he felt a soft yet wet paw get placed on his forehead.

"He's running a bit of a fever. Could someone get me a Pecha Berry and and Oran Berry please?"

'I recognize that voice.' Kyle thought, "Calida?"

"Kyle!" Calida yelled as she pounced on top of him, pulling him into a tight hug. "You were out for a while. I'm glad you're ok." She pulled away and blushed at how close their bodies were. Kyle just sat up and looked around at the various Pokémon around him. He subconsciously began charging up his Extreme Speed and inched closer to Calida.

"How long was I out, where are we, and who are they?" Kyle asked as he motioned to the other Pokémon. An elderly tortoise with smoke coming out of his head and red circles on his shell stepped forward, he looked to be well past his eighties, pushing a hundred maybe. The fact that he could walk so well was a testament to how strong he must be, or at least used to be.

"You are at the Hot Spring, young Riolu. These are just some other pokemon that are visiting this place. I'm the elder, Torkoal. And who are you?" The elderly tortoise asked. Kyle slowly stood up and cracked his back, arms, and any part of body he knew could crack while answering.

"My name is Kyle. I see you've already met Calida." He said. "But that still doesn't answer my last question, how long was I out?"

"One whole day, you hit your head and back pretty hard after your fall. You were launched out of that spout over there." Torkoal said as he motioned towards a tall stone spout. Kyle and Calida decided to stay at the Hot Spring and relax before returning to the guild. They chatted with the pokemon there and one thought was going through Kyle's head the whole time.

'That was one fun ride. I'm going again sometime.'

- (Line break) -

"So, let me get this straight." Chatot said. "Behind the waterfall, there's a large cave leading into a dungeon. At the end of this dungeon, there is a large circular room full of jewels. On the back wall, is a jewel bigger than Loudred?"

"Yep," Kyle said as he let out a laugh. "As impossible as it sounds, there really is something bigger than that loudmouth fatty." Chatot laughed hysterically along with a Calida.

"And when you touch this jewel, a large wave of water smashed into you and carries you all the way to the local Hot Spring?" Chatot finished. Kyle and Calida nodded. Kyle however just tuned them out after nodding and immediately started thinking about the form he saw in his visions.

'That form looked very familiar.' Kyle thought. 'The fluffy, pillow like look, the curl of hair on the head... Wigglytuff!' Kyle's eyes shot open in realization of that conclusion and voiced his thoughts to Chatot and Calida. Chatot agreed to check with Wigglytuff about it, though some mumbling about strange recruits did come before and after his talk with the pink guild master. Once he left the guild master's chamber he motioned for them to enter.

"Here are the recruits, guild master." Chatot announced to the pink pokemon. Wigglytuff turned around and smiled at the group.

"Hiya friends, I heard about your assumptions." He picked up a large apple and began tossing it into the air. "I think you would like to know that I did indeed go to the caves. They were pretty, and the water transport was fun." Kyle and Calida just stood there with mouths wide open. "You see, I needed a place I could send you that was challenging, but not overly challenging, to test how well you would do exploring a new dungeon. And let me say this now, you did better than I thought you would."

"That," Kyle said with an angry expression and voice, "was not a bad idea actually." He finished the sentence with a smile and a calm voice. Chatot sweat dropped and so did Calida.

"Why thank you Kyle!" Wigglytuff said with a wide grin on his face. "Most other recruits try to punch me in the face or just walk out." Kyle laughed and so did Wigglytuff.

"Well, that's all I have for you two. Go ahead and get your dinner, you must be hungry." Wigglytuff said with a knowing look on his face when he heard our stomachs loudly offering their ideas on the subject. Kyle and Calida both blushed a little in embarrassment and left to get some dinner.

- (Line break) -

"Hey Kyle," Calida asked, "that was pretty fun wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Kyle replied, "I loved it. The ride at the end was pretty fun."

"You thought that was fun?" Calida asked in shock. "I thought it was horrible!" Kyle laughed loudly at that and Calida just gave a cute little pout. "I also heard what you said when we were being washed away." Kyle froze and blushed lightly.

Calida rolled over and looked at Kyle, smile on her face. She inched closer and licked his cheek.

"Thank you, Kyle. That really means a lot to me."

Kyle blushed harder and nodded dumbly. Calida laughed and went back her original position. While his partner was falling asleep, Kyle reached up and gently touched the cheek that she had licked. He gave a wide smile and looked at Calida with an expression full of something he never thought he'd feel in his lifetime, love.

"Calida, you're the best thing to ever happen to me. Never change, because you're perfect the way you are."

Once he knew that his partner was asleep, Kyle got up and gabbed his bag. He left the room without even looking back, a look of determination on his face.

- (Line break) -

Far to the east, in a dense forest a figure is dashing down a dirt path. The obviously male figure jumped from tree to tree until he landed in the middle of a small clearing. in front of him sat a small pond, and in the center sat a small green gear with blue lines of energy on both sides. A flash of lightning illuminated the figures face.

"I finally found it, a Time Gear." He said as he reached for the gear. "But this is the first of many, there are four more to find."


	6. Problems arise

"Ok everyone, I have some very important announcements to make." Chatot said. He looked over the group quickly and continued speaking. "There is an area far to the east, a place called Treeshroud Forest. It is here that an interesting discovery was made. Now this isn't a good discovery mind you, it is possibly the worst thing I have heard in my life."

That one statement sent the guild into a fear fueled frenzy. Everyone besides Kyle were acting like the end of the world was nigh. Kyle sighed and slammed his fist into the ground, causing slight tremors and a loud crash. Every Pokémon in the room froze and looked at Kyle, who was tapping his right foot in annoyance.

"You idiots done bitching about this yet," Kyle asked. Once he received some form of confirmation from his comrades he looked at Chatot. "You all should know that time doesn't just stop for no reason. Someone must have taken something from the forest or used some type of spell or mechanical construct. Last night I looked into a rumor that I heard in town, about time getting fucked up which is leading to more Mystery Dungeons. I learned about an interesting time manipulating apparatus known as a Time Gear. If my sources are right on this, which I am almost one hundred percent sure of, then that means some jack off stole a Time Gear. Chatot, wouldn't it be possible to fix this time issue if we hunt down and eliminate the thief? Find that Pokémon, and we find the Time Gear. Then that means we just need to put it back in place at Treeshroud Forest."

Chatot smiled and nodded to Kyle, thanking him for bringing everyone under control and agreeing with everything he said. He turned towards the other guild members and said, "now I know that wasn't a very good was to start the day, but Kyle is right, so rest assured that we are looking into who caused time to stop in that area. On the other hand however, we have something we know you will love to hear. We are currently planning on staging an expedition in the near future and-"

"Oh my gosh, an expedition!"

"Golly, I can't wait, yup yup!"

"ALRIGHT! An EXPEDITION, this is going to be GREAT!"

Calida gave a cute little squeal that Kyle just couldn't stop himself from smiling and laughing lightly at the cuteness she was showing. Once that thought crossed his mind he beat it down with mental clubs and mini-guns. Another thought invaded his mind right after that one.

'But I thought everyone was in a bad mood over the Time Gear being stolen,' Kyle thought with a sweat drop on the back of his head. 'I seriously think most of this guild is either bipolar or has multiple personality disorder.'

"SILENCE!" Chatot yelled. Kyle immediately thought of a little skeletal puppet and could barely contain his laughter at the thought. The room immediately quieted down and he continued with obvious annoyance at being interrupted. "As I was saying, we are planning an expedition. We will announce where and when in one week. During this time, I want all of you to try your hardest so you can be chosen for the expedition."

The guild members talked quietly amongst themselves for a second to digest what they heard.

"Now, let's get to work everyone!"

"YEAH!"

Kyle and Calida climbed the ladder and stood in the middle of the room to talk about what they heard.

"So from what I understand about all this, there is a very small group that can go and it will be based on our specialties and levels. We need some jobs worthy of a true exploration team Calida. It's time we stepped up our game." Kyle said.

"I agree. Let's check both boards again today and see if we can get even more high ranking jobs, maybe a few 'B' missions." Calida replied. "But not anything too hard like an 'A' or above, we're still some of the weaker recruits."

Kyle frowned when he heard that and flicked her forehead. "We're not weak Calida, so stop saying that." He led her to the outlaw mission board and grabbed five A ranked jobs for Mount Bristle. Calida didn't like it, but she agreed none the less that they needed to get better. Once they turned their attention to the rescue and retrieval board, they saw two familiar Pokémon hovering in front of it trying to decide on a job that looked familiar. Kyle walked over and felt his jaw hit the floor in disbelief when he realized who they were. Calida asked him what was wrong and he just pointed at the two Pokémon in front of him. Calida observed the two Pokémon and felt her jaw hit the floor as well. The two Pokémon in front of the board grabbed a job and turned to leave when they saw Kyle and Calida. Their expressions of disbelief were rivaled only by Chatot's when he heard about the team's first outlaw job.

"YOU!" They all shouted at once, attracting attention from the other Pokémon in the room.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Kyle growled as he glared at Zubat while entering a combat stance.

"Yeah," Calida said as she glared at Koffing, flames gathering in her mouth. The two poison types looked at each other before laughing loudly.

"We're an exploration team, you idiots! We just started." Zubat replied with a sneer.

"The question is," Koffing said. "What are you wimps doing here?"

"We're an exploration team too," Kyle replied with a sneer of his own. "We're Exploration Team Charlie, and we focus on outlaw capture." His voice suddenly got quieter and way more savage as he cracked his knuckles. "We aren't afraid to neutralize our targets either, so watch yourselves."

Zubat and Koffing floated back a little bit in shock and Calida shook her head nervously. She did not like where this was going. Zubat looked at Koffing and nodded before surrounding Calida.

"Come with us real quick, we need to talk." Zubat whispered. He led Calida over to the board and turned her around to look at them. He sighed and looked at Koffing. "Listen, a chicken like you doesn't belong here. You scare easily, and you aren't very strong. I'm not trying to hurt you in any way with what I'm telling you, honest. But that partner of your's, he is very dangerous! I don't want to turn you two against each other, but be careful around him. I may be a bad pokemon by other's standards, but even I have limits. I don't know how far he would be willing to go to complete his mission, so watch yourself." He scooted back and let Koffing continue the talk.

"Like Zubat said, you should just give up. You don't belong here. Go find something else to do until you're ready." Koffing said. Calida hung her head as the words echoed through her mind. They were right. Kyle was violent and mentally unstable, while she was a chicken with very little power. How could she have thought things would work out? One quick glance at Kyle however and her resolve hardened considerably. She walked past the two poison types and over to Kyle.

"That may be true," Calida said. "But he's still my friend, and I am getting better. Beating you in that cave was a testament to what we can do when we try our hardest."

Zubat scoffed at that. "Heh, you just got lucky. If the chief was with us back then, then we would have wiped the floor with you."

"Speaking of the chief," Koffing said while sniffing the air. "I can smell him coming right now."

"Smell?" Kyle asked. Suddenly, a purple cloud shot from the opening in the ceiling and filled the room with the unbearable stench of rotten eggs and barf soaked in piss. A large purple skunk climbed down the ladder and stomped over to Kyle.

"Out of the way shrimp." He growled as he exhaled a thick purple gas. Kyle covered his mouth quickly, but wasn't quick enough. The gas entered his mouth, nose and eyes, causing his vision to blur and his muscles to weaken. He stumbled back and fell over with a grunt, allowing the skunk to walk over to Zubat and Koffing. Calida move out of the way quickly.

"Any good jobs?" Skuntank asked. When he heard a 'no,' he growled angrily.

"But," Zubat said. "I heard some of the others talking about some kind of expedition. This could be worth looking into."

Skuntank laughed and nodded enthusiastically. "That sounds good boys. Let's go, we need to do some plotting." The two poison types nodded and followed their boss out of the guild. Calida ran over to Kyle and gave him a Pecha Berry to cure his poisoning. After he ate the fruit Kyle got up slowly and nodded his thanks to his partner who was asking him frantically about his health. Calida sighed in relief before letting a small tear fall down her face.

"I guess they really were right, I am just a weakling." Calida mumbled. "I'll never amount to anything here." She looked at Kyle with tears in her eyes, a sight that nearly made him snap. "You don't think I'm a weakling, do you? I'm still useful right?" Kyle quickly reached out and pulled her into a tight hug, resting his chin on her head.

"You're not weak Calida." Kyle said in a soft voice. "You were able to take down Koffing by using your brain, not just your brawn, and you did really well against Drowzee and the other outlaws we've faced so far. Don't sell yourself short, and don't let anything like this get to you. I hate to see you cry Calida, it tears me apart." He ran a paw down her back and scratched lightly along her spine. He moved his paw up to behind her ear and scratched lightly, smiling happily when she tried to stifle a soft moan.

"Thank you Kyle," Calida whispered. "This means a lot to me."

"You mean a lot to me Calida." Kyle said drawing a blush from his partner. He chuckled and nuzzled the side of Calida's neck. "So what if you can't punch through a stone wall? Your pyromancy is enough to blow one to smithereens. So don't think you're weak because you aren't good at close combat. There are many tactical advantages to a long range partner."

They separated, albeit reluctantly, and checked the job board. They managed to snag three retrieval missions for Mount Bristle and left to do complete those jobs.

- (Line break) - (Will mainly be focusing on outlaw missions in this part)

The first outlaw they encountered was a Rhyhorn. Kyle began the fight with his Hokuto, Hyakuresyu Ken followed up with a Bone Spire Strike. Kyle spun his staff in a high speed vertical circle, slowly lifting his enemy into the air. From that position, he thrusts with his staff straight up as hard as he could, launching the enemy even higher into the air with increased internal damage from a condensed blast of destructive aura energy. Calida blasted the outlaw with a Flamethrower, propelling him across the room and into the wall with a loud crash. The Rhydon slowly fell out of the crater left in the wall with several broken bones and fainted. Kyle high fived Calida and they moved to the next floor. On this floor Kyle found the Quick Seed, one of the items that the clients asked for. No outlaws were on this floor, so they moved on.

The next outlaw was a Geodude. This outlaw was different from the others however. It wore a Zinc Band and had a large store of steel spikes. Once it saw Kyle and Calida, it grabbed a handful of spikes and threw them with all its might. Calida used Emer to shoot down the projectiles while Kyle used Extreme Speed to appear behind the Geodude. Before Kyle could strike, the Geodude spun around and punched him in the stomach and the face. It then used Roll Out to slam Kyle into the floor multiple times. Calida fired a Flamethrower, but the Geodude dodged, allowing the flames to strike Kyle. Calida gasped in shock and the Geodude laughed.

"Damn you!" Calida yelled as she fired another Flamethrower. Instead of just a small stream of fire, a huge torrent of flame erupted from her mouth, scorching almost half of the room and knocking the Geodude out cold. She ignored the downed Pokémon and ran over to Kyle, who was getting up slowly while looking at the charred Geodude.

"Calida," Kyle said. She gave him a worried look, hoping she didn't go too far. "That was freaking awesome!" He yelled. "That is what I meant back at the guild. You can barely make a small mark with your strongest close combat strike, but your ranged combat is amazing. That is what I meant a few days ago about warriors and mages. The mage focuses on long range elemental damage, while the warrior gets up close and personal to attract all the attention." Calida beamed at the praise and moved to the stairs with a little more spring in her step.

The third outlaw was a Doduo with a group of seven Spinarak surrounding it. Kyle used Extreme Speed to appear behind one of them and slammed his staff down on its back before swatting it away. Calida used Flamethrower to wipe out three of the Spinarak. She was about to use the move again when a String Shot wrapped around her mouth, preventing her from attacking. Kyle noticed the lack of flames and saw the string wrapped around Calida's muzzle. He was about to help her when the rest of the Spinaraks swarmed him. They rained a flurry of blows upon him, leaving him twitching on the ground beaten and bloody.

"You can't beat me whelps! Just give it up!" The Doduo yelled. He was silenced with a kick to the head that left him dazed. The outlaw turned around only to gape in astonishment at who was behind him.

"Yo," Kyle said with a small wave. "You've just gotta love Double Team."

Before the outlaw could open his mouth, Kyle used his Hyakuretsu Ken on him. The Doduo flew through the air and crushed one of the Spinaraks. Calida managed to get the strings off by this point, and was preparing a high powered Flamethrower. Once the energy was built up she unleashed it, bathing the area in front of her in crimson light. Once it died down, Kyle laughed at the unfortunate outlaw and his posse of cooked Spinarak. They moved to the next floor with grins on their faces.

The fourth outlaw was an Ariados, something else that the duo was unprepared for. It saw them and fired off String Shots like the move was going out of style. Kyle was too slow and was caught by the move.

"Calida, get this shit off of me!" Kyle yelled. Calida tried to pull it off, but was knocked away by the Ariados. The next few moments were full of nothing but pain for Calida, something that filled Kyle with a murderous fury.

"Damn it Calida," Kyle yelled. "Burn me!"

"What?!" Calida yelled as she dodged another String Shot.

"Just do it!" Kyle roared. Calida nodded stiffly and fired a Flamethrower at Kyle, burning the ropes off but lighting him on fire as well. She gasped in horror and Kyle groaned in pain. He got up slowly and gave a sadistic grin. "Thanks babe, now let me handle this."

Kyle used Extreme Speed and appeared above the Ariados, his staff arcing through the air with a trail of fire behind it. The spider smashed into the ground and shrieked in pain when it was lit on fire by Kyle's staff. A swift strike to the head and it was silenced, though the loud crack and blood were of some concern to Calida.

Calida ran over to Kyle and tentatively touched his arm, which had a large black mark from the fire. He winced and smiled a weak smile.

"Now I know what it feels like when someone pisses you off, it fucking hurts." He moaned as the burns all assaulted his brain with messages of pain. Calida pulled out a Cheri Berry and an Oran Berry to make a paste with. The paste was spread on the burns and the pain slowly faded.

"Thanks Calida," Kyle said as he continued leading them to the next floor. The final outlaw was dispatched quickly and efficiently and they returned to the guild with heads held high. Well, half of them, Calida had her head down still depressed over the fact that she burned her partner pretty badly. Kyle frowned when saw that and put a paw on her shoulder.

"Listen Calida," Kyle said in a soft voice. "It's nothing, OK? This is just part of the job. You may need to cause a little harm to help others in the end. You prevented a horrible beating that would have left both of us down and out for quite a while." Calida just sighed but nodded in confirmation. Kyle saw the look in her eyes and pulled her into another tight hug, his paws rubbing her back gently as he rested his head on top of her's.

Calida sighed in contentment and buried her face in Kyle's soft fur. 'Wait a minute, why is he being this affectionate towards me?' Calida thought. "Hey Kyle?"

"Yeah," Kyle replied as he led them to their room. He had a smile on his face, but was obviously fatigued from their day of hard work if his limping gait was anything to go by.

"I know we've known each other for a little while, and you're a very good friend, but why have you been so affectionate towards me lately? Not that I don't like it or anything, but why?" Calida asked with a cocked eyebrow. Kyle blushed and stammered for a second before calming down enough to reply in a slightly shaky voice.

"W-well, its just that I like spending time with you. Y-you're kind, funny and have a good attitude. You're also one of the few that I can call friend, which is probably t-the biggest reason." Kyle said, stuttering just a little bit. Calida nodded, though in her mind she was sighing in annoyance at not getting the full answer. See, Calida can tell when Kyle is lying, telling the truth or telling part of the truth by his body language and his eyes. She saw the signs and knew there was more to it than what he was letting on.

They grabbed their dinners and ate quietly before going to bed.

- (Line break) -

"Now before we begin today, I would like to introduce to you your new comrades!" Chatot announced. The assembled pokemon gave him questioning looks, but Kyle and Calida knew who Chatot was talking about and growled quietly. Suddenly a faint purple cloud entered the room, assaulting everyone with a horrid stench. From the ladder came a group of three pokemon, two of which made Kyle's blood boil. The pokemon were none other than Zubat and Koffing, along with a large purple skunk. The skunk stepped forward and cleared his throat. Zubat flew in front of the skunk and hovered in the air with a smug grin on his face.

"Heh heh heh, I'm Zubat. It's nice to meet you." He said with a grin. Once he saw that grin Kyle wanted to punch Loudred, and hearing the voice made him want to punch Chatot as well. Next up was Koffing.

"Woah ho ho, I'm Koffing." The purple ball said before unleashing a loud burp. Chimecho and Sunflora gave him disgusted looks.

"Chaw haw haw, it's nice to meet you. I'm Skuntank, and I'm the leader of Team Skull, remember it." He said. His voice sounded like that of a mafia boss. He glared at Kyle and Calida. "Especially you two."

"You know those two already?" Chatot asked in astonishment. Skuntank nodded and Chatot smiled. "Then that makes things much easier." He said while turning back towards the other guild members. "These three will be joining us on our expedition, I hope you all welcome them with open arms and help them get used to being here."

"WHAT?" Calida yelled in anger.

"Is there something wrong Calida?" Chatot asked. Before he could get a response Skuntank interrupted them.

"Don't worry Chatot, she just over reacts to lots of things. Just ignore it." He said with a dismissive wave of a paw. Chatot gave both groups a worried look before finishing the announcements. When it came time for everyone to give the cheer, their lack of energy was obvious to even the densest Pokémon. Chatot noticed immediately and started sweating profusely.

"Where's your morning pep everyone? Come on, let me here a good cheer from you." Chatot said.

"You've GOT to be KIDDING me!" Loudred yelled.

"It smells Chatot! We can't be all cheery and happy right now!" Dugtrio said.

Chatot was about to reply when a growl was heard from Wigglytuff. Chatot yelped and covered his head. The guild started shaking roughly and explosions surrounded the Pokémon in the room.

"This is not good," Kyle said. "It's like a freaking minefield in here! Where's that sweeper?" Several of the Pokémon in the room stopped acting all fearful to look at him in confusion before continuing their fearful cowering.

"Quick everyone," Chatot yelled. "Show the guildmaster some energy!"

"HOORAY!"

The shaking and explosions stopped and everyone sighed in relief. Chatot regained his composure first and addressed the group.

"That will be all everyone, now go on ahead and check the boards. We just received some good jobs, and as you know the guild needs money to run, so get to it!" He said with a flap of his wings. Kyle and Calida grabbed some jobs and left for Mount Bristle. It seemed that lots of problems were happening near that place, which Kyle found to be strange but just brushed it off as nothing important.

At the end of the day, when the guild was closing down for the night, three figures were walking through the halls to the mess hall.

"Chief, that meal was hardly even a snack. My stomach is eating itself right now!" Koffing groaned. Zubat whined about it as well and Skuntank smacked them upside the head.

"Quiet," He hissed. "We're going to the mess hall to get some more food, so stop your bitching and get moving." They entered the mess hall and grinned at the pile of food in the back.

"Boys, we hit the jackpot."

- (Line break) -

"And three: smiles go for miles!"

"OK everyone, time to get to work!"

"Hooray!"

As they were leaving, Chatot took Kyle and Calida aside and told them about the mess hall.

"We did an inspection of the larder this morning, and found it to be nearly empty. Now I know this wasn't your fault, but we need someone to go get some more food in Apple Woods." Chatot said. "And while you're there, I need you two to get some Perfect Apples."

"Perfect Apples?" Calida asked.

"Yes, they're the biggest and juiciest apples ever to exist. They only grow in the Apple Woods on the final floor. Please, just go get them. If you want to ask about them, ask Wigglytuff. He practically worships the damn things." Chatot said. They laughed at the thought of the guild master bowing and praying to an apple shrine.

"Will do Chatot," Kyle replied. "We'll get the apples for you."

- (Line break) -

"This is fucking boring." Kyle groaned. Calida hit him in the head twice. One hit is for complaining, and the other for swearing at the guild earlier.

"And would you stop fucking hitting me," Kyle yelled. All he got in response was a Geo Pebble to the head once again.

"Fine, I'll shut up." Kyle said into the dirt.

- (Line break) -

It took them a while, but they made. Calida burned through all of the grass types, both figuratively and literally. Once they made it to the end, Kyle looked up at the oversized tree in the clearing they were in and nodded.

"Better get climbing, those apples won't gather themselves." Kyle said as he cracked he stretched his limbs. But when he was about to start climbing the tree, three figures fell from the tree right at Kyle. He initiated a backwards roll and pulled out one of the steel spikes he kept on him for emergencies.

"Woah ho ho! You can put that away Kyle." Koffing said. He and Zubat both were sweating when they saw Kyle with a sharp object in his paws.

"Chaw haw haw! Yeah Kyle, just put it away. We wanted to talk, not fight." Skuntank said.

Kyle slowly lowered the spike and gave Calida the sign to stand down.

"Good," Skuntank said. He looked at the tree and grinned. "You see, we've been here eating some of these delicious apples. And when we saw you coming, we thought you would be looking to get a few of these delicious apples, maybe even a few Perfect Apples?"

"Affirmative, Chatot sent us out here to get some of them so the guild master doesn't blow up the guild trying to find them." Kyle said. Everyone in the clearing flinched at the thought of a pissed off Wigglytuff.

"Well then, let us help you." Skuntank offered with a smile. He turned around and ran into the tree as hard as he could. Once Skuntank hit the tree, hundreds of apples rained from the tree. He stepped back and gestured to the apples.

"Go ahead, take them to the guild. We heard about the larder, so take as much as you can and we will get the rest."

Kyle stared at the apples for a few seconds before raising his paw with the spike in it.

"I don't think so," Kyle said. "You're just going to off us and take the apples back to the guild. Not gonna happen, Skuntank."

The trio stepped back in shock, and Calida took a combat stance alongside Kyle.

"Oh man, they didn't fall for it!" Zubat yelled in anger.

"Chaw haw haw! Who cares? Koffing, let's get them!" Skuntank yelled as he took a deep breath, Koffing doing the same. They opened their mouths and unleashed a torrent of purple gas. Calida stumbled before falling to the ground unconscious. Kyle crouched down and started coughing, his vision blurring and his arms were shaking. Slowly, his vision went black and her fell to the ground next to Calida.

"C'mon guys, let's go."

- (Line break) -

"C'mon, get up maggot!"

Kyle groaned and opened his eyes. Standing in front of him was a human male with digital urban camouflage and a Scar-H in his hands.

"Good, you're awake. The mission is a fucking failure, so we need to book it! The general is NOT going to like this"

"Yes sir!" Kyle barked as he stood up.

"Sir? Kyle, what are you talking about?" The man asked. "I'm not a guy Kyle!"

The human slowly faded and was replaced with his partner Calida. Kyle looked around the area and saw that they were still in Apple Woods. The only difference was that everything was darker. They were unconscious for so long, that it was almost time for dinner.

"Sorry Calida, just a hallucination or something like that. Are there any apples left?" Kyle asked as he inspected their gear.

"No, there aren't." Calida said with her head down. "Now the guild master is going to get angry and probably blow us up!"

Kyle shivered and inspected the tree. Calida was right, there wasn't a single apple on the tree.

'How did they pull that off?' Kyle thought as he led them back to the guild.

- (Line break) -

"SQUAWK! You couldn't get any? None at all?" Chatot asked in fear. Kyle nodded and frowned.

"It wasn't our fault sir, Team Skull-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Chatot yelled. "I will not have you blaming our new recruits for this! Now you're going to go with me when we tell the guild master this news. You two will also be sitting to the side and watching us eat dinner!"

"What! Thats not fair!" Calida cried. She saw Kyle with his head down and frowned. "Aren't you angry about this?"

Kyle remained silent as he walked past them and down the ladder to the second floor. Chatot glared at him and Calida looked worried.

'I hope he can get over it quickly.' Calida thought. She knew he could get very violent sometimes, and something like this could set him off easily.

- (Line break) -

"Um, guild master?" Chatot asked tentatively as they entered the guild master's chamber.

"Yes Chatot?" Wigglytuff asked in his usual happy way.

"Well, you see these two were sent out to get you your Perfect Apples but failed miserably." Chatot answered.

"Oh thats alright! Everyone fails every once in a while friends! So, where are the other Perfect Apples?" Wigglytuff asked with a smile.

"W-well, as I stated they were sent to get you more of them. So since they couldn't get them, there aren't any left." Chatot replied with a nervous chuckle.

Wigglytuff's smile slowly faded, a shadow covering his eyes. Then something they didn't think they'd see in a million years happened: Wigglytuff started crying. Once the first tears fell from his eyes a loud rumbling sound filled the room and blasts of flame popped up all over the room. A loud wail followed the explosions and the shaking intensified tenfold.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Huh?" Wigglytuff croaked as he looked up.

Skuntank and his two teammates were standing in the doorway. Zubat and Koffing pushed Kyle and Calida out of the way as he entered the room.

"I happened to overhear the conversation, so I thought I'd drop by and give this to you." He started as he handed a Perfect Apple to Wigglytuff. The guild master cheered and started balancing the apple on his head.

"Thank you friendly friends," Wigglytuff cheered as he started eating.

"Oh thank you! I knew it was a good idea for you to join!" Chatot said in relief. He glared at Kyle and Calida though. "You two need to be more like them. Now say 'thank you!'"

Calida thanked them angrily while Kyle just grunted angrily before leaving. Calida pulled Chatot out of the room and gave him a worried look.

"Chatot, I know you're just trying to teach us, or something like that at least, but Kyle is in a very bad mood. I've seen him when he's angry, and trust me when I say it scares me sometimes. Please, just try not to make him too angry." Calida pleaded.

"Oh really now," Chatot said as he regarded Calida with a stern look. "If that's the case, then why did you make a team with him?"

"He's not a bad Pokémon Chatot." Calida whispered. "He's just lost. He doesn't remember anything about who he really is. Memories are returning to him and he told me some of them are disturbing, even to him. I'm worried about him Chatot, and I don't want him to get in trouble because you pushed him too far."

Chatot sighed and nodded. Calida thanked him and followed Kyle to their room. When she opened the door she saw Kyle standing in front of the window with a scowl on his face.

"Calida," Kyle said as his partner entered the room. "I'm sorry I got you into this. I should have attacked once I saw them."

Caldia walked over and sat beside him, her head resting on his shoulder.

"It's ok," She said. "I should have used Ember or Flamethrower to blow them up."

They sat there in companionable silence before they went to sleep, well Calida did at least. Kyle sat in his bed while inspecting a Steel Spike.

'Chatot and the others don't believe me, but I know those three are up to no good here.' Kyle thought. He slid the spike down his arm, drawing a small line of red. What most didn't know about Kyle, was that pain and the sight of blood greatly sharpened his senses and increased his level of focus exponentially. 'When they make their move, I'll be sure to say "I told you so" to the guild after cutting out Skunktank's eyes and jugular.'

Kyle put the spike away and covered the small cut on his arm before going to sleep.

'I'm sorry Calida, I shouldn't have let them lower my guard like they did, and I know I shouldn't be doing this. I'm sorry.'


End file.
